The Bosses Were All Dead

They didn't waste much time getting back.

Before long, they had brought the Ginn with its cockpit blown open back to the main force.

Calling it the main force was generous. It looked more like a defeated remnant.

Even without seeing the people, the dozens of smoking ships and countless bodies and wreckage drifting through space made it easy to imagine how they felt.

They were utterly despondent.

Naturally, the air of relaxation from earlier was gone.

The sight of the demoralized troops made Xu De frown.

He wasn't feeling particularly charitable.

It was war. People were bound to die.

Most of these people belonged to Blue Cosmos, anyway.

But judging by the state of the main force, there was no chance the First to Third Fleet would be brought back up to strength before the war ended and a ceasefire agreement was signed.

Of course, the Earth Alliance had a huge manufacturing capacity.

Given a little time, they could make the civilians suffer and have the factories work overtime to rapidly arm their forces.

But ZAFT would soon seize Earth and take control of the mass drivers.

Without the mass drivers, no matter how quickly they manufactured weapons, they couldn't ship them into space. There were factories in space, too, but their output was limited.

After this, the Atlantic bloc would surely adopt even more aggressive policies to recover from the setback.

Battles anywhere would be incredibly dangerous.

They'd even resorted to things like the Cyclops.

He needed to fight for more independence in the future.

Listen to the Merchants of Death, and you'd die fast.

While Xu De was watching the others, they were watching his group, too.

The moment they left the wreckage field and returned to open space, they quickly caused a stir.

The five of them towing a Ginn had become the biggest attraction in the area.

It drew more attention than a fisherman hauling in a big catch and parading it around the city.

It wasn't as if nobody here had ever destroyed a Ginn.

But most had used a warship's main guns, or had a Moebius target the tricky, explosive spots on its back.

Ginns left mostly intact were few and far between.

One with only its cockpit missing was rarer still.

And what was more, most of the team consisted of Mistrals.

"Whose people are those?"

The captain of a nearby Drake-class ship couldn't help asking as he looked out the window, despite the grim expression on his face.

"Confirmed. Third Fleet, the 15th Heavy Unit, and the Garrison Force."

The radar operator replied.

"...How many? Do we have a Fifteenth here?"

The captain's defeated look vanished for a moment.

"The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Heavy Units. I think they were just assigned to us."

The deputy captain murmured from the side.

"Recruits...?"

"Are our rookies some kind of monsters?"

Four Mistrals and a Moebius, piloted by recruits, had captured a Ginn in such good condition.

Was that even possible?

It just didn't make sense.

"Could they have just dragged it over after finding it on the battlefield?"

The captain muttered.

"But the marks on the cockpit suggest it was hit by a Linear Cannon."

The deputy captain's words made the captain's mouth twitch uncontrollably.

The parade-like procession soon ended, and the group finally returned to their own Drake-class ship.

As soon as Xu De had parked his machine and climbed out, he saw Revil approaching.

The lieutenant colonel strode toward him.

His face was tired, but he looked excited to see Xu De.

"Did you do this?"

Revil pointed at the Ginn behind them.

A Ginn this intact was a first for the Third Fleet, at least.

They'd only fought each other twice, all told.

As Revil looked at the Ginn in front of him, he could hardly believe his eyes, even with the sorrow of their current situation weighing on him.

He'd known this kid was good, but he hadn't expected him to be this good.

He'd actually brought back an enemy Ginn.

Now, everyone around them was looking at Xu De and the others with fervent eyes.

They'd fought a miserable battle.

They'd had plenty of options, yet had been hamstrung at every turn.

Even their nuclear missiles had been rendered useless.

Xu De's record had been a tremendous morale boost, and he'd become something of a hero.

"They helped, too."

Xu De stepped aside, revealing Hans and the others standing behind him.

"Mistrals?"

"But what are the odds you'd happen to cross paths?"

Revil said with a sigh.

"Yeah."

Xu De felt a weight lift from his chest.

There shouldn't have been any reason for anyone to suspect anything, but he was still nervous.

It would be a huge problem if they found out.

The lie was foolproof precisely because there was no way he could have known in advance that the World Tree would collapse.

"But I'm glad you made it back."

As Revil spoke, his face grew despondent.

The spark of hope the Ginn had inspired faded away.

The middle-aged man walked slowly over to it and kicked its metal leg.

The clack of his boot against metal was barely noticeable amid the noisy, grief-stricken hangar.

Still, the nearby maintenance crew saw him.

They weren't surprised. They felt the same way.

If they hadn't been holding back out of respect for Revil, they probably would have come over to kick it themselves.

"Fucking Coordinators."

Revil's features twisted, a stark contrast to his usual gentle demeanor.

"Sir, were your losses severe?"

Xu De asked heavily.

"Severe. Initial estimates put the combat strength of the three fleets down by more than sixty-six percent."

"Fucking hell, I had five squadrons. Three are gone, and the two left are both at less than half strength."

From Revil's words, Xu De could almost feel the horror of the main battlefield.

Unlike Xu De, who had stayed far in the rear, the Third Fleet and Revil's unit had been at the spearhead.

The casualties alone showed how dangerous the battle had been.

And there would be more battles on this scale in the future.

Even the Moon, the next major trouble on the horizon, was reason enough to worry.

He had to keep training and build up his strength.

Otherwise, he might have avoided it this time, but what about next time?

Remembering that the Third Fleet would later be wiped out on the Moon by Le Creuset, Xu De felt his spirits sink.

They couldn't stay with the Third Fleet.

"How are things with the Garrison Force?"

After letting off steam, Revil's expression grew somewhat calmer.

"Most of them..."

Xu De shook his head.

Revil sighed again at the sight.

"There's nothing we can do about it... So, what are you planning to do now?"

"If you're interested in joining my unit, I can put in a request to the higher-ups. It might take a while, though. Our command and the higher command are both gone."

Revil gave a self-mocking smile.